Tahnee Morgan is an award-winning milliner and designer who creates beautiful necklaces, bracelets, scarves and other spiritual accessories through her company, 7th Heaven. In our Spring issue, we interviewed Tahnee about her journey … and we also offer YOU a chance to win one of her beautiful creations. Read on for all the details!
We have another great competition for you, lovely readers! We are offering two free tickets to the Family Fun Day Festival, taking place on Sunday the 10th of September 2017, from 2 to 5 p.m., in the Walled Garden of Kilcornan House, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway. To enter, just follow Positive Life on Facebook or Twitter, share this article, and tag us @positivelife so that we know you’ve done it. A winner will be selected and announced on Friday the 8th of September 2017. Good luck!
By Aisling Cronin
On Sunday the 10th of September 2017, Helplink Support Services (in association with the SCCUL Sanctuary) are holding their inaugural Family Fun Day in the Walled Garden of Kilcornan House, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway. The event has been organised to mark World Suicide Prevention Day – which also falls on September the 10th – and aims to promote positive mental health. We spoke to Helplink CEO Lochlann Scott to find out more about the inspiration behind the festival, and what attendees can expect on the day.
This festival is aimed at promoting positive mental health. Can you tell us why you feel that this theme is so important?
Well, the main reason that we created Helplink in the first place, five years ago, was because we were attempting to normalise the discussion around mental health and reduce stigma for those accessing mental health services. The situation is getting better, but unfortunately, for many years there has been a lot of stigma around mental health issues, and we have always been about making sure that these services are accessible. We hope that by holding a family-oriented event, we can bring the concept of positive mental health into mainstream conversations. That is why we are holding this fundraiser.
So how did the idea of a family-oriented event originally come about?
We were trying to think, what would be the best way to promote wider discussions around mental health, and get rid of the stigma behind the issue? We eventually decided that the best way to do that would be to get the whole family involved. The idea was to help whole families have a conversation about what positive mental health means to them.
Can you tell us a little bit about the Walled Garden? It sounds like an enchanting place to me – it invokes fairytale imagery!
It really is a fairytale space, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. I was speaking with Trish from SCCUL Sanctuary one day, as the Sanctuary is located in Kilcornan House. She told me about the walled garden, we went down to see it, and we immediately knew it would be a perfect space for an event like this. There is a little crannóg in the middle of it, where bands can play. On the day, we will have a multicultural choir playing, a local folk singer called Mick Brown, and a jazz band called the Jazz Mongrels.
What other activities will be taking place during the Family Fun Day?
There will be a raffle with some great prizes, a kids’ corner where children can make magic wands and play with hula hoops, a treasure hunt, dancing, and lawn games. We hope it will just be a really fun, uplifting day, packed with fun things to do, and we hope people enjoy it.
So I hear that this is your inaugural event. How are you hoping that the festival will grow and develop in the years ahead?
Well, our organisation runs on some revenue from our low-cost mental health services, but many of our services are free – funded by the government or by local mental health organisations. We have committed to doing one big public fundraiser a year to help us continue with these services, and this is our first attempt at it. We hope that it goes well, and we are hoping to expand on it year on year!
The Family Fun Day is taking place from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday the 10th of September 2017 in the Walled Garden of Kilcornan House, Clarinbridge, Co. Galway. Adult tickets cost €10 at the gate, and are also available online through iDonate.ie – just search for ‘Helplink.’ Tickets for teenagers from the age of 13 to 17 are €5 each, while children under 12 will be granted free admittance. To find out more about Helplink Support Services, visit helplink.ie. More information about the SCCUL Sanctuary can be found at scculsanctuary.com.
Autumn is here and festival season is winding down, but the Spirit of Folk festival, taking place on the 9th and 10th of September in Dunderry Park, Co. Meath, is one gem you don’t want to miss. We are giving away two tickets to this fantastic festival. Simply follow Positive Life on Facebook or Twitter, share this post on your Facebook or Twitter page and tag @positivelifemag so we know! A winner will be selected soon. Good luck!
By Aisling Cronin
The Spirit of Folk festival, originally founded in 2011, has become renowned as a must-go venue for upcoming folk music acts. In addition, the festival provides spiritual seekers with a wide range of activities to enjoy, including drumming circles, shamanic workshops, and a variety of inspiring talks by some leading names in the world of druidry, shamanism, and transpersonal psychology.
This year, the festival will take place in Dunderry Park, Co. Meath, on Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th of September. Dunderry Park is home to The Transpersonal Institute and the Irish Centre for Shamanic Studies, which offer a wide variety of courses on shamanism, yoga, counselling, transpersonal psychology, and more. All talks at the Spirit of Folk festival will be based on this theme. Ahead of this exciting weekend, we spoke to Martin Duffy, co-founder of the festival, to learn about the many events that festival attendees can expect.
We hear that Dunderry Park is celebrating its twentieth anniversary, so that must make this year’s festival extra significant!
Yes – that’s why we’re running it this year. We had put a hold on the festival last year, as we wanted the land to recover, but this year, we’re really fine-tuning the idea of Spirit of Folk being a holistic festival. This is why we’ve made it a non-alcohol event. The ethos of the Centre is more about people getting into themselves than getting outside of themselves, which is an effect that alcohol tends to have.
What are you most looking forward to about the festival?
What I am most looking forward to is the gathering of people who have been coming and going to the Centre for the last twenty years. We’ll have a huge drumming circle and a speakers’ tent, with speakers such as Professor Ivor Browne, Jungian therapist Jasbinder Garnermann, and myself and Annette Peard will be doing a druid ceremony and talking about transpersonal vision. There will be folk music, of course, and a play taking place on our woodland stage. We like to promote upcoming bands that don’t have an opportunity to perform in many other places. It’s centred around folk, blues, and traditional types of music. There will also be storytelling with Eddie Hanahan and others in a little cairn that we have in one of our fields, which fits about forty people. We will also have childrens’ activities taking place throughout the weekend.
Can you tell us more about what yourself and Annette will be doing?
Annette and I will be doing the opening ceremony – a druid ceremony – which will be celebrating the autumn equinox. Annette works as a druidess, so she will be doing a ceremony that involves honouring the earth and the ancestors, and everybody will get to participate in this ceremony. She’ll also be talking about druidry in modern times, and how relevant it is in our world today.
How do you hope the festival continues to grow and develop in the years ahead?
We are going to look at this year as a template for going forward, where we can have a festival that is somewhat different to many other summer festivals, in the sense that it would be a holistic, child-friendly, and animal-friendly event, that isn’t centred around alcohol.
The Spirit of Folk Festival is taking place on the 9th and 10th of September 2017 in Dunderry Park, Navan, Co. Meath. For more information about the festival programme and booking details, see spiritoffolk.ie. To learn more about Dunderry Park, the Transpersonal Institute, and the Irish Centre for Shamanic Studies, go to www.dunderrypark.org.
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